Configuring Ocean eReferrals in the CHR (Ontario)

📌 Note: You must have the Referral Settings permissions to configure Ocean eReferrals for your clinic. See Modifying a user's permissions.

Before sending eReferrals from the CHR using the Ocean portal, contact the eHealth Centre of Excellence (eCE) by completing the eReferral (Ontario eService Program) form. eCE will advise you to create an Ocean user account if you do not already have one, and then create your Ocean site.

Go to ocean.cognisantmd.com and click the link at the bottom of the login window to Sign up here! For more information on creating your Ocean user account and site, refer to Ocean's Getting Started Guide.

📌 Note: When creating your Ocean site, you are prompted to create a shared encryption key. Copy this key and store it in a safe place. You will also need this key when enabling Ocean Cloud Connect.

After you have an Ocean user account and site ID, eHealth Centre of Excellence (eCE) will assist you in configuring Ocean eReferrals in your CHR.

To configure Ocean eReferrals in the CHR, you will need to:

1. Enter your Ocean site ID in the CHR.

To get your site ID, log into the Ocean portal and go to Menu > Admin > Site Account and write down the Site Number.
In the CHR, go to Settings > Referral > Ocean and enter the Site Number.
Click Save Ocean Settings.

2. Enable Ocean Cloud Connect in the Ocean portal, to allow Ocean to communicate with the CHR.

Log into the Ocean portal, and go to Menu > Admin > Site Features.
Select the checkbox to Enable Ocean Cloud Connect.
In the message that appears, click Go to Cloud Connect.
Select Store my encryption key and enter your Ocean site's shared encryption key.
💡 Tip: You can find your shared encryption key in Menu > Admin > Encryption.
Click Save.

3. Generate an inbound authentication key in the CHR and add that to your Ocean account.

In the CHR, go to Settings > Referral > Ocean.
a. Click Generate in the Inbound Authentication section.
b. Click Save Ocean Settings.
In the Ocean portal, go to Menu > Admin > Integrations and click Register an Integration.
a. When prompted, choose Integration type, eReferrals.
b. Enter an Integration Name (e.g. CHR Integration).
c. In the Request URL field, type the URL of your CHR domain followed by /public/ocean/fhir_bundles, e.g. myclinic.inputhealth.com/public/ocean/fhir_bundles.
d. For Payload Type, ensure the FHIR v0.11.1 radio button is selected and then select API Key Authentication from the list.
e. Enter the Header Name Referral-Integration-API-Key.
f. Copy the Inbound Authentication key from the CHR into the Key field.
g. At the bottom of the window, select the checkbox to Allow a copy of the referral to be sent to this endpoint when a new referral is sent from this site.
h. Click Save.

For more information, refer to Ocean's help article on Enabling Ocean Integrations.

4. Generate OAuth credentials in the Ocean portal and record them in the CHR.

Log into the Ocean portal and go to Menu > Admin > Manage Credentials (in the Integrations section).
a. Click the Manage OAuth Credentials button.
b. In the window that appears, enter a Name (e.g. CHR OAuth credentials) and click Add New Credential.
c. A Client ID and a Secret are generated.
In the CHR, go to Settings > Referral > Ocean.
a. Copy the Client ID from the Ocean portal into the Ocean OAuth Credentials section of the CHR settings.
b. Copy the Secret from the Ocean portal into the Ocean OAuth Credentials section of the CHR settings.
c. Click Save Ocean Settings and refresh your browser to apply these changes.

For more information, refer to Ocean's help article on Enabling Ocean Integrations.

Updated November 6, 2023